If you have been injured in a bike accident, you may be eligible for compensation if you file a Florida personal injury lawsuit. Your eligibility for compensation will depend on whether you were injured as a result of someone else’s negligence. To determine whether negligence was a factor in a bike accident, a court will decide whether the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff.

Was a Duty Owed?

When determining negligence after a bike accident, it will be up to a judge to decide whether the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff. This duty means that the defendant was obligated to act in a certain manner toward the plaintiff.

For example, if a man on a bicycle is crossing a street in his residential area, and the driver of a vehicle comes to a stop sign while the bicycle is crossing the road, the driver has duty to not harm the cyclist by obeying the traffic laws. If his failure to fulfill this duty results in a collision with the bicyclist, the injured victim may be eligible for financial compensation.

Was a duty breached? While it is generally up to a judge to determine whether a duty was owed to the plaintiff, it will be up to a jury to determine whether a duty was actually breached. In the case of the cyclist, a duty was breached when the driver failed to stop his motor vehicle.

If you have been injured in a bike accident, you may want to get the professional help of a bike accident attorney. An experienced attorney can investigate your case, and tell you whether you may be eligible for financial compensation. An attorney can also help to demonstrate that another’s negligence was the cause of your serious injury.

Showing Cause in Fact in a Bicycle Accident

In a negligence case, a plaintiff must show that the defendant’s actions were the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. In the case of the bicycle accident, this should be easy to prove – if it were not for the driver’s failure to stop, the cyclist would not have been injured.

Showing Proximate Cause in a Bike Accident

According to proximate cause, a defendant is only responsible for harms that could have been foreseen. Again, in the case of the bike accident, the driver obviously knew that his vehicle would seriously injure the victim. This is not to say that the driver should have foreseen the bicycle accident, only to say that the driver knew that his vehicle was capable of harm.

Therefore, the driver should have acted accordingly, by obeying the traffic laws.

Claiming Damages After a Bike Accident

To claim damages after a bike accident, a plaintiff must not only prove negligence, they must also show that actual damage resulted from the accident. They must also show the value of the damage that was incurred. With the help of an experienced attorney, you can do your best to build a winning case against the defendant.

In a Florida personal injury lawsuit, you may seek damages for:

medical expenses;

physical or emotional pain that you suffered as a result of your personal injuries; and

past, present or future wages that may have been lost.

While the outcome of a Florida personal injury case is never guaranteed, a bike accident attorney may estimate the value of your claim, taking into account all of the past, present and future damages you have suffered.

Have You Been Injured In A Bicycle Accident?

If you've been hurt in a Florida bicycle accident you should speak with an experienced bicycle injury lawyer as soon as possible. Contact us online or call our office directly at 727.446.0840 to schedule your free, no obligation consultation.